The Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) is an organization at NC State dedicated to educating students and the general public about insects and other arthropods.

Chris Hayes, the social co-chair for the EGSA and a graduate student in entomology, said the organization wants to expand to undergraduate students.

“The overarching focus is a passion for the field of entomology,” Hayes said. “Whether it’s personal, whether it’s professional, whether it’s amateur, or whether it’s master of entomology, we want to invite people who love insects and other arthropods so they can find like-minded individuals.”

Zachary Everson, a graduate student in entomology and outreach coordinator for EGSA, said students may have recently seen EGSA tables at events like Packapalooza and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences BugFest.

“We’re hoping to continue [tabling at Packapalooza] every year or two,” Everson said. “I think that at that event, we did a really good job of connecting with a lot of people who are minoring in entomology or people who are kind of interested in entomology but didn’t know that we had a graduate program for it or didn’t know that there were lots of classes for it.”

Hayes said EGSA plans to bring in a larger audience by tabling in the Brickyard occasionally. Members of the EGSA plan to show off the organization’s arthropod collection, which currently includes tarantulas, a vinegaroon, an emperor scorpion and a giant centipede among other arthropods.

According to Everson, he is in charge of looking after and training the arthropods to be handled, and he also explained how many of these arthropods show warning signs if they are getting ready to attack.

“They’re usually nice, and a lot of the things that are seen by people as really scary will kind of tell you before they bite or sting you,” Everson said. “We have six tarantulas right now, and if any of them are really mad, they lift up their fangs. They’re like, ‘I’m going to bite you,’ and then you just stop whatever you’re doing and you don’t get bitten.”

Taynara Possebom, a graduate student in entomology, seminar co-chair and social co-chair, said members participated in a light trapping event at BugFest in the past and she hopes to do it again in the future. 

“We did some light trapping thing last year, they had at the BugFest a light trap [event] for people from the EGSA to join,” Possebom said. “I went there because I work with moths in agriculture and I brought a cage of moths there to show the kids what they look like … Because of COVID, it was kind of different, but now we can start to do that again more often.”

Possebom also said members of the EGSA attend non-NC State events, such as the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meetings. Everson said he hopes to register EGSA for a table at the next annual ESA meeting in November. 

Hayes said he encourages those interested in entomology to get involved.

“Definitely consider joining the North Carolina Entomological Society,” Hayes said. “It’s fairly inexpensive, and it opens you up to a lot of opportunities, and there’s even funding you can get as an undergrad and as a grad student and a lot of cool events and things as well.”

Hayes said the EGSA wants to work on fostering connections within NC State, such as the departments of plant pathology and forestry.

“Insects are involved in every part of life for the most part,” Hayes said. “I think there’s justification there for the most part of having interaction and crossover, especially in the sciences. In arts and literature and English, insects are there as well. So yeah, there’s a lot of opportunity, I think it’d be good for us to pursue it.”

EGSA administrative meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. in Gardner 2321.

More information about EGSA can be found here, or follow their Instagram @ncsu_egsa.